Shocked by Soaring Electric Bills

As politicians in Sacramento on Wednesday moved to stem the damaging effects of electricity deregulation, the discussion among hard-hit consumers in San Diego County and southern Orange County was more practical: How to survive skyrocketing bills?

“If this doesn’t stop soon, it could put us out of business,” said Luis Garcia, owner of Chuey’s Cafe, a San Diego institution for nearly half a century.

The restaurant’s monthly bill has increased from $1,800 to $4,600, with greater increases expected.

The pain is just as great--on a smaller scale--for Joy Avila of San Diego, whose bill has jumped from $30 last year at this time to $95.

“We’ve done everything possible to use less energy, but still our bill increases,” said Avila, a mother of eight. “Soon we will have to stop buying things the children need.”

True, some of the more apocalyptic predictions have yet to occur. There have been no mass evictions of people unable to pay their rent, no businesses folding by the score, no large numbers of elderly collapsing because they’ve had to turn off their electricity-intensive air conditioners.

But there is a sense in the region served by the San Diego Gas & Electric Co. that the economic equivalent of the Perfect Storm is moving toward shore unless relief is granted, and quickly.

Number crunchers at the Greater San Diego Chamber of Commerce believe the increases may stunt the region’s robust economic growth. By one account, San Diegans are paying an extra $100 million a month for their electricity--money that would otherwise go for rent, clothes for the kids, or to pay salaries of employees.

“There’s a rippling effect we’ll see as business owners have to cut back on employees and spending and put it into their utility bills,” said chamber economist Kelly Cunningham.

At Home Start Inc., an agency dedicated to helping low-income families remain self-sufficient, “We’ve had to put on a temp to answer the calls from families pleading for help,” said program manager Mark Morales.

The U.S. Navy is warning that soaring bills could put enlisted sailors in a particular bind. The average young sailor receives a housing allowance of $790 a month to cover both rent and utilities, already a tough stretch in a community where vacancy rates are low and rents are high.

“If the electrical bill for a sailor’s family increases by several hundred dollars a month, this increase is not compensated and comes at the expense of basic living needs,” said Capt. D.C. Kendall, commander of the Navy Region Southwest. “This puts individual families at significant hardship while in the service of their country.”

It could also lead to the politically volatile specter of military families forced to seek public assistance, probably food stamps, or find cheaper housing across the border in Tijuana.

In Orange County, Kory Feick, a Laguna Niguel dog breeder and single mother with six children, said she has not turned on the air-conditioning since receiving her June electric bill of $706, up from a typical $300.

“It’s hard when your kids are screaming all of the time because they are so hot,” she said. “I’m paranoid to even open the door of the refrigerator. And we still have two months to go.”

Family Assistance Ministries, based in San Clemente, is already over its budget this summer because of a spike in requests from people needing help.

“Everybody seems to be turning off their air-conditioning,” said Ellen Gilchrist, the organization’s director, adding that caseworkers plead with the elderly not to take such a drastic step.

The same story is heard at Episcopal Service Alliance in Rancho Santa Margarita.

“It’s scorching out there and people are sick--people with cancer, people with disabilities,” said office manager Julie Matters. “We’ve spent a lot of money this summer but we’ve had to turn a lot of people away.”

Rudy Castruita, superintendent of the San Diego County Office of Education, warns that increases in electricity bills will force districts to make budget cuts, possibly in classroom services.

In Point Loma, John and Jane Barnhart, owners of the Coconut Cafe, say the utility increases may kill off their restaurant, opened just three years ago. The restaurant’s bill for June was $700, for July, $1,005.

“We are heartbroken when we realize that we may have to shut our doors and become a statistical failed business through no fault of our own,” Jane Barnhart wrote Gov. Gray Davis. “We [have] put all our savings into doing something that we dreamed and talked about for years.”

San Diego defense contractor BAE Systems, formerly the electronics division of General Dynamics, fears the increases will provoke a double whammy: forcing the company to pass cost increases along to customers, and making it more difficult to attract employees. The firm’s monthly bill increased from $125,000 to $250,000 in 30 days.

In a normally politically quiescent region, protest is in the air. Consumers from Ocean Beach to El Cajon have rallied to protest high bills.

Two suburban cities, San Marcos and Chula Vista, have begun talking about breaking away from San Diego Gas & Electric and forming their own utility agencies. A San Marcos official suggests his city may become “the mouse that roared.”

And the all-Republican county Board of Supervisors is simply refusing to pay the increases in county electric bills. If the county were forced to pay the increases, it could force a cut of nearly $10 million in public services, county officials said.

“We’re only going to pay what’s fair,” said Supervisor Dianne Jacob. “Those who made the mistakes should pay, not San Diego consumers.”

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Times staff writer Nancy Vogel contributed to this story.